Abstract [en]

This paper is based on a specific occurrence at a Viking reenactment market in Sweden in the summer of 2016. The incident in question involved a group which has decided to recreate Viking slave trade. They visit Viking markets where they will capture female visitors and ’sell’ them; in this case, this resulted in a police report for assault and kidnapping. What interests me is the reactions among other reenactors, and what those reactions indicate about ambivalent views of gender among Viking reenactors.

Many Viking reenactors assert that Viking society was one of gender equality. They are often keen to pick up new research which seems to support this idea, such as the possibility of female warriors among Vikings. Thus, the Viking age is seen as closer to contemporary ideals about equality than, for example, the Middle Ages, and also as a time of strong independent women. Still, there is a certain amount of ambivalence about this equality: Viking society is also seen as heteronormative, and gender roles are often presented as complementary and interdependent rather than affording equal opportunities for both genders. In this paper, I will explore the recreation of Viking gender roles and how this draws on and legitimises heteronormativity and both equal and unequal contemporary gender roles.